A Commander's First Duty
by Rokubi
Summary: After a rough mission Shepard, Garrus, and Thane are on their way back to the Normandy when the shuttle is shot down. They survive the resulting crash, but they're all wounded; some more than others and in ways no medicine can treat. A commander's first duty is always to ensure the safety of their team, and Shepard will willing die to honor those words. Request By: NothingSoSpecial
1. Cracks

**Title:** A Commander's First Duty

**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Bioware. 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons.

**Beta Reader:** NothingSoSpecial

**Story Requested By: **NothingSoSpecial

**Summary:** After a particularly rough mission Commander Shepard, Garrus, and Thane are on their way back to the _Normandy_ when the shuttle is shot down. They miraculously survive the resulting crash, but they're all seriously wounded; some more than others, and in ways no medicine can treat. It becomes a race against time and Shepard's not sure if they'll all make it. A commander's first duty is always to ensure the safety of their team, and Shepard will willing die to honor those words.

* * *

Chapter One

Cracks

Commander Joleen Shepard woke with a pounding headache and a turian on top of her. The gray fringe and electronic blue glow were familiar enough that she instantly knew the who it was so, instead of pushing him off, Shepard gave herself a few minutes to gather herself.

Yet, the thrashing in her head was not letting up and she could only focus on the sound of Garrus' breathing, as it rumbled so deep in his chest that it shook her with each warm puff against her neck. It wasn't bad having him pressed against her, even in full armor, and she was a little surprised at that. She always figured turians wouldn't be very enjoyable bed partners, if only for their size and hard body plates. But if she didn't mind his armor then maybe she wouldn't mind… _okay_, exactly how hard did she hit her head?

Forcing herself to focus, she found Garrus' weight _was_ becoming uncomfortable. Heavy even.

_Ugh, if I closed my eyes I could swear this was Grunt_, she thought with a groan as she lifted herself up on her elbows, only to gasp in pain at the movement. Her right side ached horribly as she pushed Garrus off her enough to slide free.

"Siha," a gravelly voice called, oddly muted to her ears. Her head only pounded harder as she tried to listen to it and gave up, letting her body go slack and falling flat on her back. Above her, she noticed a ribbon of charcoal gray smoke streaking the slightly purple atmosphere and she watched as the wind swirled the edges of the dark pillar, blending it into the sky. There was a popping noise in the air, the crunch of sand or the crackle of fire, or maybe both. Long, broken beams of jagged metal were skirting the edge of her view and were in focus enough she knew they weren't too far away.

Black orbs replaced the tower of smoke and it took her a few seconds to realize they were dark eyes peering down at her and it didn't just suddenly become night.

"Commander," the voice tried more urgently. Tight, green skin and wide, full lips joined the dark eyes and she gave a small smile in recognition.

Thane moved to kneel next to her and brushed a strand of dark brown hair from her head. "You need to focus." Hell, she'd been _trying_. "You're injured… we are all injured. And it looks like Garrus' leg maybe broken."

"Injured?" she asked, and thankfully her voice was stronger than she'd thought it would be.

The assassin didn't verbally respond, only gave a slow nod as his eyes left hers to look over at their knocked out team member. Thane was crouched down between Garrus and her and this time ran his hand across Garrus' brow. He frowned and hit his omni-tool, quickly running his lit arm across Garrus' still form.

Shepard watched Thane for a moment, noticing his clothes were streaked with splashes of red blood and, through two holes in his tight vest, she could see white bandages tinted slightly pink. Not seeing any other indications of any other wounds, she waited until he was done with his scan. Seeing that Thane wasn't voicing what he found, it was either nothing important, or something very bad. She gritted her teeth as she sat up, gently pushing Thane's hands away as he turned and offered her aid, and looked around at their surroundings.

They were still in the shuttle. The same one they were heading back to the _Normandy_ on. Only now it was a twisted shell of what it once was. The roof was peeled completely back and the smell of burning metal, plastic, and fuel was growing more pungent by the second.

They had to move, before the fire grew and the failsafes that were keeping the ship from exploding gave out.

"We were shot down?" Shepard growled out in a low voice, anger anchoring her senses and numbing the pain in her side. She's never been the best pilot, her crew could attest to her blatant disregard for personal safety behind the wheel, but she drove like she did because an erratic target was harder to hit. But, damn it all, she had to navigate in a _straight_ _line_ when re-docking with the _Normandy_, and that provided the perfect opportunity to attack them.

"I am afraid so," Thane sighed as he spared a glance around the shuttle. "I've already removed the survival kits from the wreckage," he added, nodding at four small bundles outside the open doors, sitting in the cleared out path the shuttle must have made during the crash. "But time is short," he warned with a tight jaw.

Shepard nodded, understanding. Someone would come looking for their prize pretty soon, and all she planned on giving them was a smoking crater.

"Alright," Shepard gritted her teeth once more and forced herself to stand in one fluid motion, not even letting herself flinch. One fleeting glance at her side told her she didn't have an open wound and, while it may hurt, she doubted it was anything serious. Garrus was still unnervingly still and she took a moment to crouch down next to him. She saw why Thane had touched his head; the plating was cracked at his brow and a bit of blue blood was bubbling up from the fissure.

"He's not waking?" Shepard asked with a frown.

Thane shook his head and stood. "So far, no."

The commander straightened and took a step towards Thane. "The _Normandy_?"

"Dead air."

"Alright," she sighed. "No telling when back-up's coming, then."

Outside the shuttle, past the small bundle of supplies, looked to be grassy flatlands. She squinted as a blob of gray in the distance caught her attention and she felt her heart drop. "And please don't tell me the only cover is— what?—miles away and the only damn thing out here?"

Thane gave a dry laugh. "Then I shall refrain from doing so."

For a moment she let her body sag in defeat, knowing that nothing was about to be easy, and then let that feeling of hopelessness go. She'd been in worse and gotten out of worse, and she was not about to let her team suffer just because she was feeling incredibly lackluster at the moment.

Plus, her head was killing her. She'd had headaches before (she had a pretty nasty one after head-butting that krogan back on Tuchanka) but this was a whole new deal. It felt like someone was drilling holes in her head from several different angles at once. If this is what Kaidan felt when he bitched about his headaches, maybe she shouldn't have called him a wuss that one time….

Rolling her shoulder, Shepard prepared her aching body for what it needed to do. "Which means," she started as she circled Garrus. "We either head there, dragging Garrus along, and go hide in the first place anyone with a brain bigger than a vorcha will look, or we walk in a random direction and anyone with access to a satellite will spot us in seconds. There is also the _huge_ chance that the rock formation is hiding the base of whoever shot us down, as that's _normally_ how it goes. Which wouldn't be so bad if we weren't already shit tired from that run-around the Illusive Man just sent us on."

"We have little choice, I'm afraid." Thane looked off at the rocks. "We need a vantage point, even one that will draw our enemies." He gave a small smile. "And even that can be turned to _our_ advantage."

"Yes, true. Would be _nice_ to have our best sniper conscious, though." She bent down on Garrus' left, Thane on his right, and they lifted him in one smooth motion. That must have been the jolt his body needed, because Garrus let out a small pained groan and Shepard was relieved to see his eyes crack open.

"By the Spirits, Shepard. How did your driving get _worse_?"

A smile broke wide on the commander's face and she felt her headache ease a little as she chuckled. "Sorry, Garrus. For once it wasn't me. Easy there," she warned as he tried to support his own weight and he flinched as he shifted his weight on his right. His leg didn't appear too bent at any awkward angles, but seeing how most of his body moved a lot differently than hers, it was hard to tell.

"Damn," Garrus cursed as he leaned back on her and Thane. "Damn," he repeated as he scanned the wreckage around them. "_Damn_," he hissed, fringe lifting and eyes narrowing as he looked out at the grass lands. With Garrus' turian eyesight being the best and Shepard's being the worse (even for a human and, frankly, she was amazed Cerberus didn't throw in some laser eye surgery while they were at it) she was the last to see what her two companions did.

"Of course," she smiled a little as the small convoy of military-grade looking combat ground vehicles drew closer. "What are the odds they're friendly?"

Thane and Garrus both gave her blank looks and Garrus drawled, "With _you_ here, Commander? Zero."

* * *

The convoy slowed to a stop and from the three combat vehicles—ground rovers meant to transverse even the most alien of landscapes—four batarians emerged from the rear of each, twelve in total.

Shepard was a little surprised. She was expecting Blood Pack, as they had come to this backwater planet to take out one of their bases station not too far away in the first place. The batarians were clad in plain, non-descriptive armor, a tell-tale sign they were slavers, and were equipped with some very advanced weaponry and tech, signs they weren't a joke.

While long range commutations may have been out, thankfully the short range wasn't, so their comms were still functioning. They were dangerously low on ammo, but she was sure they had enough to at least take this squad out. Shepard watched as half of the squad moved cautiously forward, sparing a fleeting glance at the pile of supplies, and drawing their weapons as they neared the smoking shuttle.

"Commander Shepard!" the batarian at the front yelled as he stopped near the shuttle. "Come out now if you want to live," he growled.

Through the comm Thane chuckled. "It seems they are looking for you, Siha. Perhaps you should be courteous and say hello?"

Shepard felt her lips pull back into a sneer that would make Jack proud. "Of course. Wouldn't want to be rude, now would I?"

Garrus sighed. "Try not to be too reckless, Shepard. I only have six shots and I normally need at _least_ seven to save your ass."

Shepard absentmindedly nodded as she felt her heart quicken in anticipation. Slowly, she pulled her shotgun from her back, careful not to draw attention to her position. "Now," she barked, jumping up from the grass, where she had crawled around to flank the six slavers near the vehicles. The last thing they needed was for them to get into one of them and get a tactical advantage.

_One_, she counted in the back of her head as adrenaline pumped violently into her system, slowing down the world around her to a muddled flow. She pulled her shotgun up and fired, taking out the closest slaver, just as two in front of that same one dropped, their heads missing.

_Two_. The three left from her group turned to her, just as the six in the farther group opened fire on the shuttle and she reloaded.

_Three_. Shepard jammed her shotgun into the nearest gut and shot, tearing through armor and flesh and spraying the field with green blood.

_Four_. She reloaded quickly, knowing her time was almost up, and jammed her elbow into a batarian's face as she aimed her gun at the other.

_Five_. She shot as the slaver behind her let out a pained cry and fell back. The one in front deadlocked on his gun as his lifeless body fell, spraying the area with a torrent of wild bullets. A few impacted on her shields and cut its durability in half.

_Six_. The world quickened to its natural pace and, with a terrible vengeance, her head pulsed with searing pain. Shepard stumbled, not expecting her headache to worsen from the use of her Adrenaline Rush, and panicked as she felt herself being tackled to the ground.

Her shoulder—the shoulder that's never been quiet right since Cerberus rebuilt her—hit the ground first, taking the brunt of the fall and the weight of both her and the slaver. The slaver shoved her onto her back and jammed his pistol into her face, the metal of the muzzle cold on her skin.

His nose was oozing emerald blood and his four eyes were glaring hard at her. "Fucking stupid human," he growled. "You rather die _out_ _here_ than give up?"

Shepard felt herself go slack. She should disarm him. It was simple to do. But something wasn't right. The purple sky above the slaver's head was suddenly a pale cerulean blue. The tall grass around her was fading from her vision and her armor felt light, like it wasn't there at all.

And the slaver was still a slaver, but a _different_ one. Three eyes with a bleeding hole where the fourth should be and a gleaming knife in his clenched hand instead of a gun.

"_Fucking human,"_ he growled, voice echoing alongside the crash of waves. _"You think one little pyjak can stop us?"_

From behind him came a light, amused laugh. _"Good thing she's not alone then."_ A shot, no, _two_ shots rang out—one in her head, one in her ears—and the slaver's head was gone.

Shepard gasped as her senses returned to her, the weight of the dead slaver on her chest and the feel of his warm blood soaking her anchored her to reality. Her head was beating alongside her heart and for the life of her she couldn't muster enough energy to push the corpse off.

What the hell was wrong with her?

That… that was from….

"Shepard!" Garrus snapped through the comm. "_Commander_! Say something! Are you hit? Shit, Thane—"

"Cover me," was the quiet reply. It didn't take long for black eyes to pop into her vision and darkness leaked from them as she felt a weight lift off her.

"Siha," Thane called, voice growing dim as her eyes grew heavy and all she could feel was the pounding of her head.

* * *

Shepard's eyes fluttered open as she slowly woke up. From the steady rocking and loud hum, she could tell she was in a vehicle of some sorts. Her first instinct was to check for restraints. Not feeling any kind of bondage, she carefully turned her head, not wanting to alert anyone to her waking state, just in case she needed the advantage.

She was lying on metal bench; the cockpit was past her feet and the back door somewhere, she guessed, behind her head. Propped up on the bench next to her was Garrus. His wounded leg was lying flat and his good one was on the floor, keeping him upright as his body shook with the occasional rock of the rover. The benches were close enough that his left hand was gripping the edge of hers (maybe to keep her from rolling onto the floor in her sleep?) and his eyes were closed.

"Garrus?" she called softly, not wanting to wake him if he was indeed sleep.

His eyes snapped open and instantly locked with hers. "Shepard," he let out a relieved sigh and she felt herself warm at the care in his voice.

"How's your leg?" She asked, because she didn't get a chance to before.

"I've locked my suit's joints to act as a split, so it's fine for now. I'm more concerned about you two."

"I'm fine, just a little—wait. You _two_?" Shit, did Thane get injured helping her?

Garrus looked over his shoulder towards the cockpit, where she could see Thane driving. "It seems Thane was _impaled_ in the crash and he's been bleeding all over the place," he said reproachfully, his voice still heavy with the concern he had for her.

Shepard moved to sit up and Garrus placed his hand on her shoulder as she did, to make sure she was steady. "Bleeding? He wasn't bleeding earlier."

"I had bandaged it and the medi-gel had stopped the flow," Thane explained, not taking his eyes off the road. "But it appears too severe for medi-gel alone to handle."

"You should have said something," she hissed.

"I believe I _did_ say we were all injured."

"Don't be a smart-ass," she chided. "Anything _else_ I should know?" she said as she looked at Garrus to let him know she was including him.

"No," Thane answered as Garrus shrugged.

"My heads killing me, but it's manageable," the turian narrowed his eyes at her as he spoke, "And you? What happened back there? You just froze up."

"Don't know." She shrugged this time. "Maybe I hit my head when he tackled me? My head's been pounding since the crash."

Garrus frowned, he eyes calculating as he looked her over. "You froze up before he tackled you. And you have no head wound. The only injury your suit registered is two broken ribs."

Oh, so maybe her side hurting was a big deal.

"Well, my head's still pounding like a jackhammer, wounded or not. And why were you watching me so closely? I've told you before to stop that. I don't need you to watch my _every_ _move_, not when you have your own squad to take out."

He shifted and looked away, mandibles clamped to his face. "Try arguing that when I _didn't_ just save your ass."

She wasn't trying to sound ungrateful, but that wasn't the first time she'd caught him watching her more than he should. If he had targets to take out, then she needed him to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible, not worrying about her. But after her dying two years ago and him losing his team, that maybe an argument she was never going to win.

She could still lecture his ass for it, though.

"I'll argue it now, Vakarian," the commander snapped and was slightly pleased to see him flinch. He was just so cute when he ducked his head like that… _seriously_? What was wrong with her head? Since when was Garrus cute? 'Turian' and 'cute' only go together when the word 'gun' was worked in there. Like 'The turian though the gun was cute' or 'The turian thought it was cute that gun was pointed at him'.

Her head gave a throb and she closed her eyes, trying to find some relief from the pain, but it was useless. "Forget it," she sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Where are the med-kits? There has to be a pain pill in there." She opened her eyes and Garrus looked towards the back of the truck and moved to stand. "Don't," she ordered, hand reaching out to press down on his chest. "Your leg," she reminded.

Standing up made her head swim and the swaying of the truck was far from helping, but she retrieved a bottle of human grade pain-pills from the kits salvaged from their wreak. She noticed a bottle for each species that was currently serving on her ship and, while Cerberus was a pain-in-the-damn-ass, they at least knew to plan ahead… sometimes.

Garrus and Thane had already taken some, and told her not to worry about them. She was willing to set aside her concern for the moment, but it was in favor of making a plan.

Currently, Thane was driving them away from their crash site. The ground rover had a map onboard and from it they could tell that the rock formation was indeed the slaver's base. They also had the Blood Pack's base listed on it, leading them to believe that the two groups were working in tangent somehow. The rover's comms were not made for long range (which she found odd until she remembered she was dealing with slavers and they'd most likely disabled the long range in the occurrence that someone in their 'care' escaped and stole a rover) and so they were still cut off from the _Normandy_. They agreed their best bet was to head to the Blood Pack's base, as they had merely taken out the gang and had left the base standing.

So, they quickly turned around and headed _back_ the way they came, towards the slaver's base, because it was a given the slavers would either expect that or already be there salvaging the place. What they won't expect would be Shepard coming right to their door.

Or maybe they would. Honestly, she was so used to doing half-thought out, hair brained schemes that she didn't even know what the inside of the box _looked_ like anymore.

Her two teammates agreed, so that made her feel slightly better with her choice. They had salvaged all weapons and tech from the dead slavers and were no longer running the risk of running out of ammo. Garrus had disabled the trackers in the rover's systems, so they would be approaching the compound undetected. Thane and Shepard were both mobile enough to sneak in and get word to the _Normandy,_ and Garrus would be ready on standby for their getaway.

So, with a plan laid out, Shepard eased herself into the co-pilots seat to wait. The pills had done their job and she sighed in relief as her head finally stopped pounding. She ran a system check of her suit and read over her injuries. Combat suits were made to record all wounds, so that med-gel could be dispersed to the proper location. Currently, only her two broken ribs were showing up on the report screen on her omni-tool. Strange, as she was sure her headache was from hitting it and that… hallucination as well.

Going through a backlog of reports she found some surprising things; the upper right panel on the back of her armor had been chipped in the firefight that morning with the Pack. Her left thigh plating, the paneling over her stomach, chest, and left foot were all severely cracked, to the point her armor would shatter from any drastic shift in atmospheric pressure. The blood from the slaver had leaked into the cracks and fried some of her shield generators, making those areas exposed during a fight and her shield only able to work at two-thirds efficiency.

And there was an unknown substance clogging her suits filters.

_This is why you always were a helmet, Joleen,_ she lectured herself as she ran the substance through her suit's scanners, only to get no results. Wearing a helmet wouldn't have helped, not after the crash and her cracked suit. Plus, she was planetside this morning and she felt fine then. But she was inside the base the whole time, so if the substance was the source of her headache, it may not have been in a big enough quantity in her system yet to cause it.

_But this is a slaver planet_, she reasoned as she looked out the window and at the expansive grassy fields. _No place to run, no place to hide. _They would find any escaped slaves in no time here, so why risk any type of ill effects on their 'cargo' with a toxic atmosphere? Plus, Cerberus sent her here; they _do_ warn her about breathing toxic atmospheres, even if they don't like telling her about 'ambushes' and 'those dead Collectors aren't actually that dead' and….

"Damn it," she sighed loud enough for her team to hear. "I think something in the air is giving me my headache." She doesn't mention the hallucination, as she's not too sure it was one. She used to fall back into those memories a lot; used to remember ever step along that beach and hear every gull and child scream in her ears.

She thought she was free of those memories, but to lose them would be to lose a bit of _him_, and she owed him far too much to forget one second of his sacrifice. Just now was not a good time for those thoughts and feeling to take hold; Garrus and Thane's lives were her responsibility and her crew's safety took priority over a ghost any day.

Garrus spoke up from the back, "Possible. But EDI would have warned us of any health threats."

Thane looked at her from the corner of his eyes and added, "If she was aware. This wouldn't be the first time the AI was not given all of the details. I, however, find it strange how quickly the batarians were on us. They did not _happen_ to see our shuttle, take it out, and know the occupant inside all by chance."

Garrus snorted. "Every damn crook in the universe knows Shepard."

"But how? They did not see her and many still do not believe she is even alive. Even _fewer_ are aware of her connection to Cerberus. This has been a trap from the start."

"Why risk her life with toxins? With the Collector ship it was straightforward, but how can they expect her to fight off the _air_?"

"My upgrades," Shepard cut in, her mind working a mile a minute as she tried to piece everything together. "If the Illusive Man thought my upgrade would protect me from whatever's in the air, that man's so damn full of himself that he wouldn't hesitate to send me. The idea of something he's made—some plan of his or anything else—failing is surely foreign to him. So the question is; what's so important on this planet?"

"Couldn't be the merc base we took out," Garrus mused and Shepard turned to look at him. "It has to be at the slaver base. Maybe a captive there we wouldn't save if we knew who it was, or some type of tech. Or maybe the slavers themselves. You don't exactly have the best history with batarians."

"You mean Elysium? It's _slavers_ I don't like, and they come in every single race," she said in distain. But even then, in the back of her mind, she knew she tended to expect the worst from a batarian. "And if I knew there was a slaver base here, I would have hit them first, so why not tell me?"

Thane gave a dry laugh. "Looking for reason, were none resides, is a fruitless endeavor. The best we can do is get off this planet so you may ask the human yourself, Siha."

Shepard sat back in her seat and gave a silent nod, agreeing that it was pointless guessing what that madman was thinking. After all, she'd just got rid of her headache and thinking about him was sure to bring it roaring back with punishment.

They were quiet after that. Shepard found herself turning to check on Garrus and watch Thane closely for any signs his wound reopened. They would have to stop soon, so they could properly sew it up. We, at least _try_. She has had basic field medic training, like all soldiers do in Basics, and she couldn't risk him leaving a trail of blood behind them once they got into the base. How bad was it anyway? Impaled never sounded good and Thane was one tough son-of-a-bitch; he was surely down playing his wounds, like she did her ribs.

Ah, her ribs. She needed to bind them. Her suit could be tightened enough to add some pressure and support, but without an open wound it wouldn't dispense medi-gel, as her intact undersuit wouldn't let it through. She needed to apply the medicine directly to her skin for it to help. Even then, it wasn't about to mend the broken bones; if they even were bones. They could be made from steel or some type of alloy for all she knew, as the full extent of her upgrades had never been disclosed to her.

Looking out the window, she saw the sky was darkening to a deep lush purple, which she took to mean that night was coming soon.

"Thane, how long until we reach the base?"

"Three hours," he answered looking at the map. They had traveled quite a distance while she was out and most of the time was simply retracing their steps.

"We'll stop for a few hours; let it get dark before we approach. If they had a way of tracking us, I think they would have shown up by now." The fact that a backup shuttle hadn't been sent down for them was more alarming. The _Normandy_ was state-of-the-art in every field, so there had to be a damn good reason why they didn't immediately retrieve them after the crash. But between the advance ship AI that could counter most cyber-warfare and the one-of-a-kind stealth drive, she couldn't think of any.

"Or they see we're headed right to them and are simply letting us fall into _another_ trap," Garrus said in a chipper, helpful tone that made her roll her eyes.

"Yes, or that."

Thane slowed to a stop and, with no trees or hills or _anything _to use as cover, that was really all he could do. Shepard left her seat to sit on the vacant bench, after pulling a med-kit next to her. She started unlatching her suit as she called back to Thane, "We'll sew up that wound of yours while we have a chance. I'm not proficient in alien care, but as long as you stick one piece of flesh next to the other piece of flesh and sew? Then we're good."

Thane stood, bending slightly, and she could see from his grimace that it wasn't just from the low ceiling.

"How's your breathing?" She asked as she set aside the last of her armor. She planned on cleaning it, and hopefully Garrus could get her shields back to full working order while they waited for dark.

"Fine. This planet is humid, but not terribly so. I will be fine." Thane settled next to her and looked at Garrus. "Your leg?"

Garrus gave an irritated sigh. "Still broken."

Thane smiled. "I know being crippled is not easy to handle. I will make sure to watch Shepard's back the same way as you," his said with a light teasing tone in his voice. Garrus glared at Thane only to quickly glance at her and then away, his head ducking cutely.

Cute again? Sheesh, fine, Garrus is _adorable_. From how awkward and sweet he is around her to how badass he gets in fights. Freaking adorable.

Shepard felt a light heat on her cheeks and she looked down at her suit's zipper, like she had forgotten were it was and needed to double check its placement. She eased the undersuit off her shoulders and looked down at her side. Just below her military-grade white sports bra (that had Cerberus' logo on it just for the _hell_ of it, she was guessing) her skin was a wicked mix of purple, red, and blue. One of her broken ribs was even pressing against her skin, creating a lump.

"That looks bad," Garrus said, voice rumbling with something she couldn't place. His flanging was deeper and almost sorrowful, and his eyes even more so.

"It's just my soft human skin making it look worse than it is. It's still better than a broken leg and being stabbed in the gut by the ship," she joked but Garrus was still looking at her like seeing her wounded was hurting him more than his own wounds and—knowing that big heart of his—it probably was.

Shepard tied the arms of her suit around her waist and got to work tending to her ribs. Once she had pushed the bone back into roughly the proper place, and added a thick layer of medi-gel, she just needed to bandage them. Seeing that she didn't want Thane pulling on his wound and making it bleed right before she was about to sew it up, she stood—bending slightly from the roof—and moved in front of Garrus.

With a handful of clean white bandages that she pushed into the seated ex-cop's hands, she said, "Here, wrap my chest. It's easier to have someone else do it so it won't slip, and I don't want Thane pulling something."

She expected Thane to protest, but he didn't (did he just chuckle?) and Garrus only silently nodded as he took the bandages. From the ceiling she ended up with her chest far closer to his face that would be proper, and she held in a joke about it, as she didn't to draw to much attention to it. She only needed one hand to hold the binding in place as he worked (Garrus would have her placed it were it was needed) and, with nowhere else to sit the other, she placed it on his head, along the curve of his fringe, slightly curious about the texture. It looked rough, she'd always assumed it was, but was surprised—almost pleasantly so—at the smoothness of it.

Garrus jumped at her light touch; face smashing against her chest, causing her to jump back as pain shot through her breast, and they both gave startled noises.

A strange hissing sound was coming from behind her and she quickly turned to see Thane holding his sides as he let out long hissing laughs. She'd never seen a drell laugh uncontrollably before, but she was sure she was seeing it now.

A low growl made her turn back to looking at Garrus, and she saw he was glaring holes in the drell.

Feeling like she was missing something, Shepard cleared her throat and drew Garrus' attention to her. "I, uh, guess touching your fringe is a no-no?" she awkwardly asked. She was still holding the bandage from where he had last had her place her hand, so he didn't need to start over as he reached out to continue.

"No, not exactly, I just wasn't expecting it… and I was focusing on not bumping into your—you! I was trying not to bump into to _you_. Because I know your two—ribs, your two ribs are broken and… " he sighed in defeat and clamped his mouth closed.

The hissing behind her quieted and Thane's amused voice rumbled out, "Yes, bumping into her two _ribs_ would be unfortunate. I've heard they are quite _sensitive_."

Shepard felt her face heat as Garrus quickly snapped, "Shut up, Thane!" which only caused the drell to laugh once more.

* * *

With her ribs wrapped, the commander couched down next to Thane. She left her upper suit off, not wanting to get any blood on it.

She was still slightly annoyed. It wasn't often the older man teased them, but he did so enough that it wasn't surprising. She knew he enjoyed it mainly from being able to. Having friends—real friends that he could tease and smile and joke with—was something he rarely had, and even less so over the last ten years. And now nearing the end of his life, she knew he was lucky to find good friends like them.

Shepard was surprised by how easily the three of them fell into that dynamic with each other. On the SR-1 she had only spoken to Garrus when doing rounds, and even then their talks were brief. If she was being completely honest, she was more caught up in her developing feelings for Kaidan, as she had always made it a personal rule not to get involved with crew members, on or off the ship, as she knew from experience how badly things could go. But Kaidan was just the right mix of good guy and persistent that when he showed up at her door before Illos she couldn't, for the life of her, send him away.

Garrus was there when he turned his back on her on Horizon and from then on she knew she had his loyalty, far more than someone who could claim to love her and call her a traitor all in one breath. Sure, the reasonable part of her understood how he was hurting, but reason didn't mix with affairs of the heart, and it sure as hell didn't stop the hurt.

Only Garrus did when he joked about Kaidan losing a certain body part with an ill-placed shockwave backfire on the shuttle ride back to the _Normandy_. Only Kasumi did when she cursed and called 'that overly gelled' man every insult in the book. Only Joker did as he rolled his eyes at Kaidan's nerve and promised to start a few rumors about that same poor body part that suffered the shockwave blast.

It was her friends, her comrades-in-arms, that made her second life livable and reminded her everyday what she was fighting for. What she was called a _hero_ for.

Shepard gave Thane a small, reassuring smile as she pulled back his leather suit. It had apparently acted as a bandage itself and once it was removed she saw his dressing was quickly becoming soaked. Pulling them away, Shepard couldn't help glaring at the assassin.

"God, Thane, it went all the way through?" she felt her body shake with rage. Both at the foolhardy drell and the slavers that caused his wound in the first place.

"Nothing vital was pierced," he assured, but had the decency to look admonished as she glared at him. He knew that wasn't the point.

She wondered whether or not it was whatever was in the air, but a sense of helplessness washed over her as she treated Thane the best she could. If only for that one moment she wished to be a medic, a doctor, _anything_ that could help both him and Garrus. It was her job to keep them in one piece and so far she was failing.

"I am sorry, Siha," Thane said softly. "I did not wish to alarm you."

She nodded silently and continued to work carefully. His skin was a lot thicker than a humans and she had to press down harder than she felt comfortable doing. Worse, sometime her hands slipped, from the dark red blood coating them and the force she used, and Thane held in a flinch she only noticed because she was looking.

Once done with mending his front, she tended to his back and then wiped her hands on his already soiled bandages before getting a fresh set. Against her better judgment, Thane also had her add a layer of medi-gel. It would easily close the wound with the stitching there, but with the massive amount of internal damage it would have to be reopened back on the ship. Plus, they won't notice any internal bleeding with the wound closed, and that worried her.

With everyone's wounds cared for she ordered both Thane and Garrus to get some rest. Seeing that her mood wasn't very high, they both agreed without protest. Garrus was stuck resting with his leg propped straight and Thane laid on his back with his arms crossed as he evened out his breathing.

Shepard sat on the floor to clean her armor, but the smell of blood was strong in the cramped space. She tapped the upper section on her armor's right leg and the storage compartment popped open, revealing her glasses. She only wore them on ship, as the only time she would need them in battle would be when dealing with long range shots with her sniper, but her scope mods were made to adjust to the user's sight automatically.

She slipped them on and stood, hitting the door release for the back and the door lower into a ramp, crushing the tall waist high wild grass with little difficulty. There was a hard wind blowing and it wasn't until the whistling of the wind eased for a bit that she realized she started humming.

The setting sun was blinding and she lifted her hand to block it as she stepped farther down the ramp, until she heard the crunch of sand. The sea air felt good on her skin and the smell of salt was like home. All she needed was the bellows of foghorns in the distance and the startled cry of gulls to complete it.

"'_I'm waking up to ash and dust'_," she hummed, "'_I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust'_." She smiled as she took a deep breath. "'_I'm breathing in the chemicals'_."

A familiar laugh behind her warmed her heart, and two lightly-tanned arms wrapped firmly around her. A face was next to hers; soft lips pressed against her cheek as stringy, long sun-bleached blond hair fell into her eyes.

"Breathing in chemicals' is right. How the hell you miss New York is _beyond_ me."

She shrugged against his hold. Elysium was nice, but Earth—_New_ _York_—would always be home. "I told you; I would have been quite happy working the docks with you barefoot and pregnant at home," she teased with a smirk.

He gave a deep laugh, making his chest rumble against her back. "Sorry, Shep. As far as I know science hasn't advance that much. If you want kids, you'll have to do yourself."

She pulled away and looked back with a thoughtful expression. "_Myself_? Hmm, you won't want any part in it, Ranger? I'll make note."

He quickly adopted a panicked expression and quickly pulled her to him. "Hey now, let not be hasty here. There are a few parts I would like to be present for."

She tipped her head coyly to the side, looking up at him through her lashes. "Like?" He gave a fox like grin and she squeaked as she was dropped down on the sand.

The setting sun was striking his dark blue eyes in just the perfect way; revealing the tiny specks of light blue nestled between the strips of midnight, making them twinkle like stars in a vast night sky. His voice grew deep and husky as his face lowered to hers, lips teasingly brushing hers and making her shiver. "Like _now_," he breathed, lips fluttering against hers.

And when he kissed her nothing the else matter but the two lovers on the beach.

* * *

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**A/N:** This is my first story request, and seeing that the person who requested it is also the beta as well, I've been getting a lot of feedback on this. Let me know what you think! (And if the rating needs to go up.)

And, yay! Thane! I love Thane! He was my first ME romance and while I'll never romance him again (Damn you Bioware! That was some sad shit. I can't go through that again.) he's still awesome!


	2. What Life is About

**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Bioware.

**Beta Reader:** Mahiwaga no Megumi

**Story Requested By: **NothingSoSpecial

* * *

Chapter Two

What Life is About

Ever so carefully, Garrus limped along; bent over and right arm touching the wall to keep him steady as he moved. The pain in his leg and head were both numbed from the pills he'd taken earlier, but even if they were still hurting he wouldn't have noticed.

Not after what he just saw.

"Shepard?" he called softly, not able to muster much energy in his confused state.

His commander turned and looked at him through her glasses. Normally he found the sight of her wearing them endearing, as they tended to slide cutely down her nose, but now he was more concerned with the glazed look behind them.

Shepard looked at him with a tender smile he'd never seen on her lips before and Garrus ignored the sudden, powerful jump of his heart. Her eyes beheld his and slowly her smile started slipping as she blinked away the glassy gaze.

"Oh, sorry Garrus," she said, eyes back in focus, "Guess I was lost in thought." She forced a thin smile on her face and moved to walk up the ramp, only to pause when she noticed Thane was next to him. He didn't need to look to know the assassin would be sharing in his disbelief.

Shepard frowned, placing her hands on her full hips as she looked at them. "Why are you two up? Didn't I just tell you two to get some rest?" She sighed out the last bit, clearly tired herself. But as long as there was work to be done and people to look after, she would burn herself out before she even thought of rest.

"Siha." Thane's voice was near melancholy as he took a small step forward. Garrus was stuck where he was; if he moved any farther he wouldn't have anything to hold on to, and he was still too unsteady on his good leg to trust himself with walking without support. "It may be best if you come inside." Thane gestured with one hand to the rover while his other arm was wrapped around his stomach.

Shepard looked around, clearly thinking they must be aware of some threat that she wasn't. As there was nothing out there but endless, billowing grass, she questioningly narrowed her eyes at Thane.

"I was just airing the truck out," she said. "And I think we're safe enough for now… but if you're worried?" She ended with a question, looking between them.

"Shepard," Garrus started, feeling a knot form in his gut. Thane had moved back and she was now in the rover. She looked at him expectantly and Garrus caught Thane's eyes over her shoulder. Clearly, the drell wasn't sure where to start either.

Thane closed the ramp, making it noticeably darker, and moved towards the cockpit while saying, "I'll see if the ventilation system is able to scrub the air clean. Hopefully we can keep the contaminant out."

Garrus nodded and looked back at Shepard. She was frowning, her lips a thin line and brow straight. She was always on top of things and he had a feeling she was catching on to what was happening, but he still needed to tell her.

"Joleen," he started again, using her name because he needed her full attention. She looked slightly startled at the sound of her name, he'd never used it before (only in recent months did he actually feel like they were more than just captain and subordinate) and in her dark brown eyes he could see a bit of panic in them. He wanted to sit, not knowing how long he could balance on his one good leg hunched over like he was before it gave out from exhaustion, but he couldn't look away. Couldn't move as he asked, "Who's Ranger?"

She flinched like she was hit, moving back with shock on her face. "H-How do you know his name?" she asked, voice uncharacteristically shaky.

"You were… _talking_ to him. Said that you would have been happy working at some docks and…" he paused, not sure if he should say more. He had heard the affection in her voice when she was talking to thin air; heard the joy and happiness. And it was strange how wrong it felt when concerning her. She smiled, laughed and joked on the ship and off, but she never sounded _like_ that.

Like she was someone else.

"Shit," she hissed. The confusion gave way to anger and Garrus waited as she processed his words. Since they landed on this planet she'd been quick to anger and noticeably agitated. He was willing to guess what was causing it.

The vents in the rover chose that moment to kick on. They both spared a glance at the ceiling as the cool—hopefully filtered—air blasted around them and ruffled Shepard's hair. He held in the familiar want to touch the messy brown nest of strands as they fluttered. Her scent grew more potent with each ruffle of her hair and Garrus snapped his mandibles to his face; feeling the familiar misplaced affection he had growing for her since he saw her on Omega months ago, well up painfully in his chest.

As a silence stretched between them, Garrus found he was waiting for her response to his question and was disappointed when she didn't answer.

Shepard looked down at her hardsuit scattered on the floor, then back at him, before finally asking, "Do you think you can fix my suit? It's cracked. And maybe if I keep my helm on it will keep _it_ out of my system and I won't…" she cut herself off, not wanting to say it. Spirits, he didn't want to say it either, but not speaking of it didn't make it go away.

"If it's already in your system then it might be too late," Garrus said as he moved to sit. He was a little surprised when she sat next to him and not across. She leaned her weight heavily on her elbows as she placed her face in her hands. As much as he wanted to place his arms around her and pull her tight against him, he held back.

"Thank-you for those _encouraging_ words," she sarcastically bit out and he gave a light chuckle.

"That's what I'm here for," he quipped and was pleased to see a smile twitch in the corner of her mouth, even if it was short lived. "I'll try," he answered as he looked down at her suit. When he had accessed the suit's computer log he had only looked at any injuries she suffered, so he was unaware of the extent of the damage it had sustained. But if it was anything like his, then he would need more tools than were available to him at the moment.

Thane returned from the front and sat down across from them. "Commander," Thane started and his formality made Shepard straighten up. "I must agree with Garrus; it is already in your system and we have no idea when it will affect you again, or how it will affect you next. That hallucination maybe the extent of the contaminant's effects or it may just be the start. It maybe be best if I go alone tonight."

Garrus had to give the older man credit; he said it with a straight face. There was just no way in hell Shepard was about to let Thane go alone. They all knew that, and Garrus also knew the start of an argument when he saw one (a skill needed when doing patrols back with C-Sec) and from the way Shepard slowly sat back and Thane gently folded his hands in his lap, it was going to be a big one.

Too bad they didn't have time for that.

"We both know she'll just follow you," Garrus stated and quickly held up his hand to stop Thane's protest. "And it's not like I can exactly _run_ after her when she does." He looked at Shepard. "We don't have the option of waiting for dark anymore; we need to go now. I'll do what I can for your suit on the way."

Thane did not appear happy as he looked between them with a tight jaw. "Very… well," was all he said before standing up and heading to the cockpit.

The rover started with a rumble and they took off a vigorous pace. At his side, Shepard let out a small breath as she returned to her previous position with her elbows on her knees.

"Maybe," she started with a hopeful tone in her soft voice, "Now that I'm _aware_ of what's happening, I'll be able to keep myself from, ah, _doing it_."

"Maybe," he said, knowing that was not possible. "It happened just once; maybe it won't happen again for a while."

Shepard glanced up at him through her lashes and he knew a guilty look when he saw one.

"Shepard," he called with a sigh, knowing what she was going to say wasn't going to be good.

"It _may be_ the reason I didn't disarm that slaver when he tackled me…"

"By the Spirits, Shepard," he growled as he turned to her. "Why didn't you say anything? If we knew that the toxin—"

"But that's just it; I didn't know if it _was_ causing it—"

"Oh? So you have a habit of hallucinating in the middle of fire-fights? I think I would have noticed that little detail by now. Or is that the reason I'm always pulling your ass out of the fire?"

She frowned, anger surfacing quicker than normal (as it took a lot for him to piss her off, since she always took his comments with an amused smile and a laugh) and he could see her trying not to snap at him. "_Maybe_," she started with her hands clenching, "That's because you're always _watching_ me."

His retort was cut off as she suddenly jumped up, her hands ruffling her hair as she let out an annoyed whine. "And why am I _complaining_ about you watching my back? You've always done that. Ah!" She looked up at the ceiling. "I think I really need off this planet."

She reached down and picked up a few pieces to her suit before sitting back down next to him. This time Garrus gave into his need to comfort her and place his arm around her shoulders. She easily leaned into his hold and sighed.

"If I keep on getting progressively bitchier, know I do appreciate everything you've done for me, Garrus." She looked up at him and he wondered if it was her glasses that were making her eyes so wide and soft and… breathtaking.

"I know Shepard," he smiled and pulled her closer to him. "And we've gotten out of worse."

She smiled and he felt his heart jump. "Yeah, we have."

* * *

While his omni-tool could use fabricators to create basic tools and produce enough heat to be used as a solder for electronics, it wasn't enough to fix the damage done to Shepard's hardsuit. Or even his armor for that matter. Shepard had been pushing for him to get a new set for a while, and now he didn't have the excuse that his armor was in full working order, just cosmetically damaged.

Shepard was sitting on the floor next to his uninjured leg. She would hand him pieces as he worked, but for the most part seemed lost in thought.

She was humming, something she tended to do when she was deep in thought, and something not uncommon with humans in general. Although, Garrus found Shepard's humming to be quite soothing.

Turians were more vocal than humans, more than most other species realized. But without the ability to properly hear and understand their subvocals, they would never know to what extent. No translator program was able to fully translate their harmonics, and since turians liked keeping their affairs to themselves, Garrus was quite sure things were going to stay that way.

Garrus was amazed the first time he realized he could tell a human's mood through _their_ voice, more easily when they sang. It made sense, he guessed. Humans were an emotional breed and that emotion tended to bleed into every aspect of their life.

So it pained him to hear Joleen give off such a sad tune. Whatever she was thinking about, it was not pleasant.

She sighed and leaned onto his good leg, head heavy on his knee. Then she went quiet and, after a few minutes, Garrus put the armor piece in his hands down and cautiously reached out to touch her head, to see if she was awake.

Glad that he removed his gloves while working, he ran a hesitant talon through a section of hair, and almost jumped out of his plates when Shepard giggled.

"Oh, you're awake. I was just checking—" he started with an embarrassed flare of his mandibles before his senses caught up with him.

Giggle? Shepard doesn't _giggle_.

The human at his thigh turned, body twisting with her normal grace, but also with an undertone of something he couldn't place. Her arms folded on his thigh and she placed her head on them as her legs stretched out, making her back arch in a strangely pleasing way. She placed her cheek down on her arms and looked at him, letting her glasses slide down and peered to him through her dark lashes.

Her eyes glazed over.

"Really, Ranger," she cooed playfully. "To think you wanted Ilium for shore-leave. We barely get to see each other and you wanted to go where there will be nothing but blue chicks harassing us."

Garrus gapped down at her, trying to figure out if snapping her out of it was wise or if he needed to let it run its course. He wasn't sure if he had interrupted her earlier or if it was just naturally short lived. And wasn't there something about not doing that with humans? Or was that sleep walking? Damn, human just had too many freaking issues to keep track of.

Clearly 'Ranger' must have answered while Garrus was having his internal debate, because Shepard rolled her eyes and grinned. "Yes, but they hit on _me_. How would you feel if—I don't know—turians constantly hit on you?"

Garrus raised a brow plate at her comment and Shepard shrugged so perfectly in time with him that, if it wasn't for her dazed look, he would have thought she was answering him.

"They're very manly to me," she reasoned, clearly teasing as she added suggestively, "Even the women."

Garrus rolled his eyes and, again with unnervingly perfect timing, Shepard laughed.

"Yeah, Elysium is nice," she went on, mood turning more serious. "But, honestly, I didn't care where we went." She looked away, smiling gently. "As long I'm with you, then I'm happy."

"Shepard," he called while giving her shoulders a shake. He shouldn't be hearing this, not when she wasn't _willing_ sharing it. Plus, as childish as it seemed, he couldn't stop the jealous feeling coiling up inside of him. He couldn't help his attraction to her, but he didn't have to torture himself listening to her fawn over another man. Even if he was enjoying the sweet vibration of her voice and tender smile; they weren't for him.

They would never be for him.

She was the best friend he had in the whole screwed up galaxy, and he wasn't about to risk it by admitting to his growing feelings for her. She told him herself, after Horizon and after Jacob started showing interest in her, that she was never going to cross that line again with a subordinate. She even made an effort to put a great deal of professional distance between Jacob and her, nothing hurtful or rude, but needed in her opinion. And that happening to _him_—her even pulling away from their friendship in even the slightest amount—it would wound him worse than he could ever describe.

Shepard meant the world to him, and to keep her safe he needed to be near her, at her six as she threw herself headfirst into danger so her comrades didn't have too, even if that meant denying himself what he wanted most.

Shepard frowned, the same frown from when she was standing backed by the dying light of the sun and the long, leaky shadows of the tall grass. He called her name again and her eyes focused on him, before looking at her position and slowly standing up. Her skin flushed as she looked away from him.

"Shit, sorry Garrus I—"

He cut her off.

"Not your fault Shepard," he said, not wanting her to feel guilty over something that could not be helped at the moment.

Again, he found himself waiting for an explanation of what she was reliving. It was strange to think about how he had come to expect that kind of openness with regards to Shepard and him. Normally, she would seek him out if even the most random, mundane topic or idea popped in her head back on the ship. Now, though, he could see her shutting herself off from him, trying hard to keep memories she had buried long ago deep in the ground.

"Maybe," Garrus started slowly, knowing that he was about to start the fight he had defused earlier, but it couldn't be helped. Not when it was clear she was going to continually have episodes. "Thane's right." The said drell had been curiously silent. With hearing on par with turians, nothing in the compact space of the rover would go unheard by him. "If this happens while you're in the base—"

"I won't." That was said with such certainty Garrus almost believed it just from coming from her. Commander Shepard always got her way after all.

"Because _asking_ your brain not to lose its shit nicely is going to work," he bit out with his natural reflex for sarcasm.

"I think it helps having someone to talk to, to focus on," Shepard said as she used her standing position to loom over him. "Both times all it took was for you to call my name," she reasoned, "And letting Thane go in solo is not an option."

"I think it is, when you—"

"No, it isn't," she interrupted with no room for argument. "And you know I'll just follow him if he tries to sneak off."

Garrus sighed. "Shepard…" _be reasonable_.

She blew out a breath and for a moment her eyes softened; apologetic. _I won't let my team risk their lives for me_, she had told him months ago while sitting on her couch, battered helmet in hand, unfathomably deep brown eyes gazing up at him. _You get that? Don't you, Garrus?_

He didn't answer then, just sat down next to her, removing the helmet from her grip and placing it aside, and took her hand into his.

Yes, he understood. Spirits, he wished he didn't. Wished… for a lot of things. But, mostly, even after all these months, even after facing Sidnois, Garrus still wished to take _their_ place.

He would always wish he could take their place.

Garrus sighed, knowing he would do the same as her and knowing she was going no matter what; so he got back to fixing her armor.

* * *

Shepard was sitting in the co-pilots seat, talking about anything and everything. It seemed to be working, as they were now nearing the base and she had yet to fall into another fit. Thane was still against her going, but had consented to the conversation meant to keep Shepard's mind alert.

Garrus would chip in a word or two, but preferred to stay quiet and keep Shepard's attention off of him as he worked on fixing her armor. Like he knew earlier, her suit was beyond his repair with his available tools, so he did the next best thing he could think of.

"You did what!" Shepard gapped, looking at her armor. "Are you insane? What about you? What about—"

Garrus gave an annoyed trill with his harmonics.

"Because I'm about to jump into a fire-fight with _this_." He gestured to his busted leg, a few panels missing from the length of it. Mostly, the replacement parts came from his lower torso and arms, areas easy for him to reach.

Shepard's armor was a mix of black, red, and blue. He liked to think it looked half decent, with his blue peppered onto her black; the bright red stripe still glaring against the other two more tame colors.

"Plus, my shields are still active, just weaker." Much, _much_, weaker, but she didn't need to hear the number.

"What about the missing chucks of armor?" she glared, arms over her chest.

"If an enemy gets close enough to exploit those areas, then I'm already screwed Shepard." He wasn't defenseless with his wounded leg, but, as a realist, he wasn't about to trust his life to a bout of hand-to-hand combat, expert or not.

Thane took that moment to interrupt. "We must go, Siha. With your armor intact you will not be exposed unnecessarily to the planet's environment." Shepard gave a reluctant nod and began to pull her on armor without any more complaints.

They were two clicks from the rock formation. This close they could finally get a good look at it, and it was massive; ripping into the deep purple sky and creating a black, gapping void in its wake. In the darkness of the rocks, among the deep shadows, flickers of weak lights not strong enough to be seen for more than a few faint seconds could be spotted. The closer they got to the base the thinner the thick grass became, until they were meters from the edge of the field. While the grass was far from being able to provide cover, there was something definite about crossing that line, about being completely exposed.

The slavers had switched comm frequency from what was programmed into the communication systems on the rover, but it took Garrus only a few tries to locate and hack into their new one.

It was no surprise that the slavers were looking for them, but the urgency with which they were doing so was alarming. Mainly, the fact they seemed to be on a time schedule and they needed to find Shepard, particularly, within three days. They hoped it meant that was as long as the _Normandy_ could be held at bay (there had to be reason no one came down in the Hammerhead after the Kodiak went down) but the chance they had a buyer for Shepard set for that date was far more likely.

Garrus took the wheel, his broken leg working against him as he maneuvered into the pilot's chair, and eased the rover out of the grassy fields and onto flat dirt. There was still enough light for his turian eyesight to work, so he kept the headlights off (something he would have done even if it was full night) and navigated his way to the base. It was simple avoiding the slaver's patrols with access to their comms and the fact they were not driving with any tact; creating both walls of dirt and the monstrous crunch of gravel as they approached.

The map onboard didn't go into more detail than basic circumference of the base, so Garrus was dismayed to see only one opening as he skirted along the base's outer shell.

"Get ready," he said as he neared the only access point. There was no telling how far it was until the slaver compound, so having Shepard and Thane walk was not a viable option.

Garrus spared a glance over his shoulder and saw that both the commander and the assassin were stationed near the door, armed and ready.

Well, almost ready. "Don't forget your helmet, Shepard," he reminded her lightly.

She looked up and met his gaze, slightly surprised, before giving him a sheepish smile. Her glasses were already removed, back in storage.

"Right. Can't let all your good work go to waste," she said with a smile as she touched her left leg, were her helmet was collapsed for storage. Once it was reassembled she pulled it on, tucking her brown hair safely inside.

He returned his attention to his task; get them as far in as possible, discreetly drop them off and either wait for them or lead any pursuers on a chase (or 'wild goose' chase, as Shepard had said, to both his and Thane's confusion).

The comm on his visor turned on as Shepard tested the connection through her helmet's comm. With everything in working order, all they had left to do was the approach.

"You know," Shepard said, still talking to stay alert. "I think I'm going to take Jacob up on his offer."

The rover swerved to the right.

"What?" Garrus choked as he regained control of the vehicle.

Shepard laughed. "Drinks. I meant drinks. _Friendly_ drinks." She laughed harder. "Good to know how you feel about me asking him out, big bro," she joked, endlessly amused at his reaction.

Thane chuckled and Garrus willed the Spirits that the drell didn't open his mouth, as it was only a matter of time before Shepard finally picked up on Thane's teasing being more than that. He was endlessly grateful she was unconscious for his little 'pep talk' earlier.

"_Life is about risk," Thane said as he re-bandaged his wound. Garrus was distracted by the sight of the gaping hole in his friend's gut, so it took a few seconds for him to answer. _

"_And?" Garrus asked as he returned to checking Shepard's suit log for her injury report. She was lying flat on one of the two benches in the back of the slaver's ground rover, the one they planned on taking once Thane was done patching himself up. "I think today is a prime example of _that_." _

"_Anything worth having is worth that risk." The drell looked down at Shepard from his seat next to him. "But I do not think much _is_ at risk here."_

_As much as Garrus had come to respect the older man, sometimes his need for cryptic messages was more irritating than helpful. "How 'bout you try that again? Only with less mysteriousness worked in there."_

_Thane actually rolled his eyes, something they both picked up from Shepard. "Tell her how you feel about her. She appears to have similar feelings for you."_

"_Go back to cryptic," he dryly said, feeling his insides squirm. "I liked it better."_

"_You have been putting this off for a long while now."_

"_I…" Garrus sighed as he looked down at his commander. "She doesn't…"_

"_I am led to believe that she does."_

_A bit of hope was starting to flash in him, which only made him angry. "And why exactly is that?"_

"_She is always by your side—"_

"_We're friends. And at one point I was the only damn person on the ship she trusted her back to." Joker and Chakwas were there, but there was lingering doubt in Shepard's eyes, if only from their willingness to join Cerberus. Garrus found he understood their choice better than she did; she wasn't there to see the disgrace they did to her name after she died. Frankly, she should not trust anyone who _stayed_ with the Alliance (or at least sat around quietly, letting her name be dragged through the dirt). _

"_But you do not see how much she misses you when you are not near."_

"_Again. Friends. Hell, I've seen her almost tackle Tali to the _ground_ because she didn't see her for a full day." _

"_She worries about you, far more than just as friends."_

"_And she worries about you. You've seen how far she's willing to go for her crew— you and your son, Samara and her daughter, Miranda and her sister, Jacob and his father, Tali and her father—she's just like that. Good through and through." _

_Thane sighed in defeat. "There appears to be nothing I can say that will convince you otherwise. But at least think about it," he asked as he stood and made his way to the cockpit._

_There was nothing to think about. Him being with Shepard was… not possible. She was a _hero_ and what was he? A failed ex-cop with a busted face, who messed up every damn thing he touched? _

_Shepard deserved a hell of a lot more than _that_. _

* * *

Garrus was prone to believe his trap theory as they passed through two flat rock faces into a canyon. The road quickly changed from dirt and dust to something flat and smooth, and they moved along at an even pace. Here, enclosed by imposing rock, it might as well be full night. Lanterns were posted at intervals along the road, creating pools of weak light that seemed to be very poorly spaced, as the stretches of darkness felt almost endless once they were completely submerged in it.

It was his nerve, he reasoned as they entered another stretch of darkness. He was headed to drop off his two teammates—his two _wounded_ teammates—and he was not going with them. It was one thing to be left behind on the ship because his skill was not needed (something very rare with his combat and tech expertise) but there was something maddening about being left out because of an injury. Heck, he was up and about the same day his face was blown to hell; went groundside with Shepard the very next day.

But he still had a part and it _was_ needed. They were in no condition to clear out the slaver's base like they did the Blood Pack's, and having a quick getaway was a sound idea. And he might even be part of the action if they were found out. The rover, while not infantry, was equipped with coaxial-mounted machine guns, same class as the Mako's. As long as he wasn't cornered or surrounded, he stood a fighting chance.

When the road split into two, Garrus stopped and looked back at the commander.

"Right," she said. "You always pick right in a maze. Or is it left? Or is it you just have to keep touching the wall? Maybe we should get out…? No, no, right. Just go _right_."

After that _sound_ reasoning, Garrus turned right with a light smile on his face. He was still twisting on the inside about letting them off on their own, but at least Shepard was still lucid.

The first sign they were approaching something was the widening of the road. There was a sudden dip in it and at the bottom was a compound built into the rocks. The entrance was larger than expected and, from what he could see based on the lone search light mounted to it, looked to have some degree of wear to it. Around the base was a chain-linked fence and to the right of the door was a parking area with only two rovers and, to Shepard's excitement, a Mako.

With red flames painted on the side.

"Oh, I'm so coming back for that."

"Didn't you say the one from the SR-1 was still intact? Why didn't you get that one?"

"The hull was intact; the undercarriage… not so much. You would have had to have a love affair with the Mako to get that monster running again. And I already have the ship's cannons taking you away from me, I wasn't about to be a _fourth_ wheel," she ended with real annoyance in her tone and Garrus chuckled.

"It looks like almost nobody's home," Garrus said. From comm chatter it didn't seem like they were aware of their presence. "So, should I park in the VIP section? Or would you like a spot in the back?"

"Drop us in close then keep your distance," she responded.

Garrus drove up to the chain-linked fence, stopping at the automatic gate. He bypassed the lock and the gate opened with a piercing scrape across the ground.

"I wonder how long this compound has been in use," Thane mused out loud. "From my knowledge of slavers, they only use the same facility for at most a few years. I wonder what has kept this one in use for so long."

"Well, we're about to find out," Shepard said as Garrus slowed down near the entrance and she opened the back door. Then she added, with a look back over her shoulders, "Stay safe, Garrus."

Garrus nodded at her. "You too, Shepard. Thane." The drell inclined his head down as he met his eyes, and then turned to follow the commander out.

They disembarked, guns raised and sweeping the empty lot, and hurried to the door. He watched as they hacked their way into the base and, when the doors closed behind them, Garrus sent a prayer to the Spirits.


	3. No Shame

**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Bioware.

**Beta Reader:** NothingSoSpecial

**Story Requested By: **NothingSoSpecial

* * *

Chapter Three

No Shame

"How does it look in there?" Garrus asked through the comm and Thane was pleased to note that the signal was still strong.

It would have been just their luck (or Shepard's and what she called her 'Murphy's Law' luck) for the base to be shielded, blocking their comm signal. So far it was routine; simple midlevel hack, security cameras with open feeds that they looped, and stander patrols in the corridors. It looked like the base was running with a skeleton crew and, from their lax almost uncaring demeanor, it was reasonable to guess they had never seen a real security threat.

Until now.

Thane stayed silent, letting the commander answer. With her helm on and her external speakers muted, she could freely talk to both Garrus and he without giving away their position.

"Similar to the Pack's base, only… kind of run down. There's new equipment mixed in with stuff I haven't seen since Basics." Shepard took a moment to peek her head over a stack of crates they were hiding behind. "And the place is a _mess_. Boxes everywhere."

Thane could hear the slight click of Garrus' mandibles hitting his plates, something that showed the turian was amused. "Well, I'm sure if you give them a reasonable price, they would be more than happy hiring you to cleanup."

Shepard's head bobbed slightly and from the circular movement Thane was sure she just rolled her eyes. "Jack wanted me to go pirate and now you want me to start a maid service?"

"You already clean house when you gamble _and_ have taken out more trash than C-Sec."

"Mmm. I _do_ like getting my hands dirty," Shepard said suggestively.

"Oh, don't I know…" Garrus quickly answered in stride.

Thane quickly interrupted before the commander could respond.

As much as he enjoyed their company, he could only take so much of their constant flirting and them both somehow staying _clueless_ to each other's feelings before he ended up locking them in a room with each other.

In fact, if they somehow left this planet still ignorant (doubtful, as Shepard seemed to finally see what was going on with the looks she'd been giving Garrus over the last day) he was going to hack EDI's systems and lock them both in the battery.

"Siha," Thane whispered. "We must move."

Shepard nodded and peeked over their cover again. It was still clear and she let Thane lead the way, following his lead, trusting him to find hiding spots and to avoid any guards.

They moved for a while with Shepard still talking, mostly informing Garrus of their progress, as being left behind was not going over well with the young turian.

They moved through halls with ease and checked room after room. They found storage rooms overflowing with crates covered in thick dust, a small mess hall, a few restrooms, and even a small, dimly lit office.

The office failed to have a comm unit with the range needed to reach the _Normandy_, but they did find some data pads on a small, cluttered desk.

Thane paused as he scanned the pad he just hacked. "From this, only humans are being housed here. Strange, with the effects the planet has on your kind," Thane stated as he looked up at Shepard.

She gave him an acknowledging nod, not looking up from the datapad that she was holding in a suddenly tight, strained grip. He could see her shoulder stiffen under the weight of her armor and from the catch of her breath, he knew what she was reading wasn't good.

"I… someone told them we were coming," she said as her head lifted to meet his eyes through the tint of her visor. "A week ago."

"_What_?" Both Thane and Garrus said in shock. At most, Thane had thought the slavers somehow had a day's warning, as they were informed only yesterday of the Blood Pack's base and Shepard had only deiced to investigate this morning, since they were pasting through.

"'It maybe in your best interest'," Shepard read out loud, "'to prepare for the arrival of an old acquaintance. She has proven quite a thorn in your side, with your current trade in general and, more personally, _Elysium_." Shepard sucked in a breath, her hands trembling, before she hurled data-pad across the room.

"Elysium! This is about Elysium!" she yelled, pacing the small room with her head in her hands.

A low growl over the comm drew Thane's attention and Thane said out loud what the other man knew. "The Illusive Man planned this."

Garrus gave a harsh laugh. "What the hell is that man's problem? How is any of this a good damn idea?"

Shepard was still pacing the room, her hands curled into to fist at the sides of her head and footsteps heavy.

Thane took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but it was no good. "I find I do not care very much for his reasoning. He will pay for this. We are not his toys to play with."

Garrus snorted. "We've been his toys from day fucking _one_." Then added in even voice, "But, yeah, he's gonna pay."

Shepard stopped her pacing and, from the comm, Thane could hear her breathing deeply. It pained him seeing her so distraught. He was aware Elysium was a touchy subject to her, as she always clammed up whenever he asked about the event that made her a hero in the eyes of the galaxy. Well, _one_ of the events, but she was always willing to tell the tale of Saren and the geth. Just not Elysium.

_Eyes lost, empty of the spark that filled them only seconds before._

_Elysium. One word able to erase all joy, life, in seconds._

_Her eyes tell me what her mouth cannot._

_She wishes never to speak of it._

_Elysium, where she made her name, but only pain waits for her there._

"This doesn't change anything," Shepard said as she gave the room one last scan before heading for the door. "We still needed to get a signal to the _Normandy_."

Neither Garrus nor he said that it _did_ change things; that there was very large chance that EDI was being jammed, not from anything done by the slavers, but from EDI's own systems by the Illusive Man.

Thane stopped her before she crossed the threshold of the door, as she was charging out without a thought.

"Siha," Thane said gently and, through the visor of her helm, he could see her dark eyes were blazing with anger. "Stealth is still a priority," he reminded with a hand on her shoulder.

"Right," she said tightly before taking and deep breath. "Right," she repeated as she shoulders eased under his touch. "Lead on."

* * *

Minutes from the office they ran into their first unavoidable problem; a set of guards stationed at double metal doors. It was the last set of doors for the floor and there were faint track marks on the floor coming from it, making it the only path left to take.

Thane still wished he was doing this solo, as the air vents would had been a favorable option at this point, as his Siha was a soldier, not an assassin, and her bulky armor would never fit easily. And having her remove it was _not_ an option.

"I get the ugly one and you get four eyes."

"Siha… that does not clarify _anything_."

Garrus laughed through the comm. "Does one of them happen to have lavender on?"

The oddity of the question startled Thane enough that he gave the two a once over without thought.

"Yes, one has a lavender cloth sticking out his armor."

"Then that's more attractive one."

Thane was starting to wonder if the toxin was getting to Garrus as well.

Shepard laughed loud enough that it was a good thing she still had her helm on. "You know me so well, Garrus," she said fondly. "Lavender just brightens up everything; even a batarian's ugly mug."

"Starting a fashion company with the maid service?"

Shepard pulled her gun and nodded for Thane to get ready.

"You know me," she laughed. "Never happy with one thing."

In less time than it took to take a deep breath, Shepard and Thane had emerged from cover and shot the two guards dead, both clean kills to the skull. They waited half a second and, when it was clear they hadn't set off any alarms, they looted the corpses and backtracked to hide the bodies in a previous storage room. Shepard used the lavender cloth to clean up the blood trail they left and she threw that in the room with them.

They took point on either side of the doors and Thane did a quick scan with his tool. Finding no locks and, surprisingly, no security feed on the other side, they entered with guns raised.

It was a tunnel.

They knew the compound was built into the cliffs, but seeing a tunnel made of smooth, worn rock was unexpected. Lanterns were strung along both sides of the wall to the point not an inch was left in darkness. The floor bore noticeable groves worn into the ground, spaced just right that it looked like they were made from a small, wheeled vehicle.

"So much for stealth," Shepard mused, playfully nudging him and Thane ignored the bright burst of pain that it caused. They had both taken another round of pills before leaving the rover, but it looked like the effects were quickly wearing off.

Thane chuckled as he pushed the now dull throb in his side to the back of his mind. He was relieved to see his Siha her normal, happy self, and wasn't about to ruin her mood with something that couldn't be helped at the moment. At least his breathing was stable so far.

"I have been known to hide in plain sight," he said with a slight grin on his lips.

Shepard laughed and waved her gun at the tunnel. "Not _this_ plain."

And, just to mess with her, he slipped behind her just as she turned to scan the room, matching her movement as she turned back to look at him, effectively hiding from her sight.

"Damnit, Thane, not funny," she sighed as he moved back into her view and he was sure she had a small pout on her face.

Thane's grin widen for a second before he noticed how oddly quiet things were in the tunnel.

"Garrus," he called, frowning deeply as the lack of commentary from their team member was uncharacteristic of him. Shepard froze, waiting for his answer as well.

Nothing.

They both quickly backtracked and just as they left the rocky tunnel the comm burst to life.

"Shepard, Thane, I repeat; do you copy? Shit. _Shepard_—"

"We're here Garrus," Shepard assured and Garrus' voice thrummed with his flanging before he gave a deep sigh of relief. "But it looks like we'll be cut off from you for a while. The next room's some type of tunnel and it's blocking the comm," she explained.

Drells could hear far better than humans, and Thane knew Shepard couldn't hear the distress humming melodiously in Garrus' voice as he answered, "I… alright. Just be careful, will you?"

"We will," she gave an unnecessary nod and turned back to head into the tunnel, but Garrus wasn't done talking.

"I know _Thane_ will. I was talking to _you_, Shepard. I'm not there and…" There was no way Shepard could miss the way his voice broke.

"Can you promise me something?" Garrus asked and took a deep breath before going on. "Can you promise me you'll hang back if you get into trouble? That you'll let Thane lead and fight from cover?"

Thane didn't need to see her face to know she would be shocked at Garrus' request. While Shepard was letting Thane guide them through the base, how to handle enemy encounters was the commander's call by default. Even if Thane hated her tactics of charging in head first, it always got the job done and it was hard complaining with results.

"Garrus," she started with a bit of gentle heat. "I know you're worried, big guy, but—"

"Joleen."

Shepard froze at the soft call of her name.

"Promise me. I'm not there and I need you to promise me." There was a hint of desperation in Garrus' voice and Thane felt like an intruder. This moment was something important between them. Garrus was asking this, not as her subordinate or comrade, but as her friend; even as something more.

"Garrus…I… I don't…"

"Promise me."

She sucked in a deep breath and did something Thane never though he'd see the great Commander Shepard do; she swallowed her pride.

"I promise, Garrus. I promise."

* * *

As they progressed through the tunnel Thane noticed they were moving down at a slight incline and there were only a few crates pushed along the sides to act as cover in case they needed it. It took fifteen minutes before the tunnel gave way to another room through a large circular opening, and they both crept along low and to the side as they approached it.

It was a proper room, in the sense it had a metal floor and ceiling, but it still had rock pillars left for support around the room. It also wasn't empty.

There was no way they would pass without a fight, as seven armored batarians were stationed around the room. It looked like they were guarding the double doors on the far end of the room and, like the rest of the guards they've seen, were milling about in an uncaring fashion.

"Remember your promise, Siha," Thane whispered as Shepard looked ready to charge.

"Yeah, yeah," she huffed. "Garrus is such a worry-wart sometimes."

Seeing that it wasn't the best time to ask what a 'worry-wart' was (he could pretty much guess, though) he took a quick scan of the room and said, absentmindedly, "Only because he cares for you, Siha." Then he added, "We will take the two by the doors out first, so they cannot run for help. Then you will switch to your assault and take the females to the left out—"

"_Those_ are female? Are humans the _only_ race that has two distinct looking genders? Are female drells just another color?" she said suspiciously.

Thane sighed. "And I shall take the three on the right. Do not use your Adrenaline Rush," he ended with a warning, remembering what she told Garrus in the truck.

"Got it, boss," she said, obviously disappointed he didn't join her banter.

"And no," he said placidly. "They are not. I will show you a picture of Irikah later."

Shepard spirits lifted a bit at his offer, as she was always asking about his late wife and how Kolyat was faring. He knew family was important to her and she was always pushing for him to stay in contact with his son. He knew it was from her childhood that having a family was something almost sacred.

_Lips thin, smile forced and strained. Hands balled into tight fist on top of the cool metal table gleaming bright in the light of the swirling engine, brown eyes never leaving mine._

'_I was an orphan; grew up on the streets. They abused kids like me for cheap labor. No one cared about us; if we were hurt or killed there was always some other poor kid needing the bit of cred to eat.' _

_No shame in her words, only discomfort at the memory. _

'_And then there were the ones who preyed on us in the way worse than that. I was lucky, always ran at the slightest sound, never suck around to see if the hand being offered to me was real or… or some else. There were close calls; broken legs and arms, busted ribs and torn clothes; times when I was too hungry or tried or scared to run. But, like I said, I was lucky.' _

_Nothing about her life has been kind. _

'_And I saw what happened to those who weren't.'_

_There is more. More than she will ever tell me. So I stay silent as she suddenly smiles—real, bright, lovely—and talks about how Kasumi gave her a new book based on her home planet. I say silent as she talks, because that is all she needs me to do. _

* * *

Seven. Thane should have been able to take them out on his own, but his wound was severe, more than he would ever willingly show, and he knew he was moving slower from it.

While Shepard was no expert sniper, she knew how to handle the one strapped to her back and the two farthest guards crumbled into a heap as Shepard and Thane broke from hiding.

Maybe he should have given Shepard the larger group to attack as she was physically more able than him, but he wasn't about to risk her resorting to her Adrenaline Rush if something went south, and that was far less likely with just two opponents.

Thane took out his first target in the three man group as he heard a _shotgun_ blast violently rip through armor and flesh from behind him. Thane's own pistol unloaded into a slaver with a few more shots than needed, as he couldn't afford the risk of him getting up (and, as much as he hated to admit it, his temper was still high from what they learned earlier in the slaver's office).

Just as the second slaver turned to him, gun ready, Thane side stepped him, darting behind the third slaver and shooting him in the lower spine, killing him and using him as a shield. Green blood and shards of armor spayed the room as the last slaver had no qualms at shooting through his dead teammate to get to Thane.

Another shotgun blast and Thane was slightly surprised to see his last target's head disintegrate into a spray of green and brown matter.

Shepard lowered her gun and he saw her second target was dead with her throat cut clean open.

"I do know how to use more than just guns," she winked. "But with Garrus around I never get to get _real_ close and personal."

"Siha…"

"Hey," she put up one hand as she held her gun with the other. "I'm keeping my promise; I followed your lead and I didn't rush in."

"Because that is an _assault_ you are holding," Thane rolled his eyes and pushed his limps shield away from him as Shepard rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

They did a quick sweep of the dead and, seeing that they were no longer being discrete, they left the bodies were they fell. Thane had found a key card from a slaver (Shepard had found a wallet with a cred chip and a coupon or a free lap dance at a club called 'Zero Dark' on Illuim. She took both) and they approached the double doors to try it.

"So what's behind door number two? Er, or ten… I kinda lost count."

"Nothing pleasant," Thane answered as he used the key card to open the door. Even though he said what he did expecting more resistance, he was still right even thought there were no slavers inside.

Just slaves.

* * *

Thane and Shepard both knew this was a slaver planet and that they were housing human slaves, but knowing and seeing were two different things.

Even with her armor on, Thane could see the ripple of rage that coursed through the commander as she scanned the large room.

It was a natural inner cavern lined with a metal wall that ran around the circular room in full. The center of the room was for equipment; chains, collars, tables with restraints at the top and bottom, and other… things Thane chose not to look too hard at.

Along the back wall were four large cells. One was empty, but the other three were not; filled to the brim with wide-eyed humans. There were small, crate sized cells scattered around the room and even stacked two high on top of each other; each of those holding one human each. Five forklifts were littered around the room and a few long, green rubber hoses ran crisscrossing across the metal floor.

To their left was a dark pit and, from the smell of decay coming from that section, Thane knew what was down there.

Doing a quick count, assuming each cell held at least fifty human, and that there were literally dozens and dozens of small cells around the room, there were at least three-hundred human there.

Shepard moved towards the nearest cage and Thane quickly placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "It pains me to say this, but we cannot free them, Siha."

She stiffened and turned to him, eyes flashing. "_What_? We can't just leave them like this," she growled out and Thane knew while she usually did have a good heart, under normal conditions she would have come to the same conclusion. Yet, as he was painfully aware, her mind wasn't fully hers, and he had been hoping that fact she'd been touching her head a great deal wasn't a sign of her about to relapse.

"For the moment, we must. We need to return to the rover and finish our mission. If we free them they will be targets and we cannot take them all with us. The slavers are more interested in finding you than moving any of their… products at the moment. They are safer were they are."

Thane's eyes narrowed as her hand came up to touch her helmet and she looked away from him. For a good minute she just stood where she was; body not moving as she was lost in thought. Then she turned without a word and walked over the nearest cage, hacked the access panel, and opened it. The human inside, clothed in a simple, brown smock like the rest of them, made no move to leave, only looked wearily at the commander and him and huddled back into a corner.

"Siha," Thane said in annoyance as Shepard moved to another cage and started another hack.

She didn't look up from her omni-tool as she said, "We'll clear the base, let them have the guns and ammo, and lock the place up tight before we go."

Thane debated with himself for a moment before he countered, "Your headache has returned; combat may cause your condition to worsen."

The cage door popped open and she fluidly moved on to the next. Again, the human made no move to leave, only watched them with widen, unsure eyes.

"We still can't leave them like this," Shepard reasoned as the door to another cage opened.

"For the _moment,_" he said repeating himself and stressing that they weren't turning their back on her kind. "We _must_."

Shepard paused and, again, she touched her head, stilling for a few seconds before continuing at her task.

"Siha, please stop. This will doom them—"

"We need to give them a fighting chance," she snapped, not looking at him as she worked. "We can't leave them without—"

"Shepard—"

"We can't leave them!" she yelled, turning to face him and making the humans cower in their cages. "He didn't leave them _then_ and he wouldn't want me leaving them _now_."

Thane fell silent as he tried to understand _who_ exactly she was referring to and, with his eyes holding her near wild gaze through her tinted visor, he had a feeling he could only guess the name.

"Who?" he still asked, needing a good answer if he was going to help her in this potential madness.

"_Him_," she said simply, voice filled with anguish and Thane felt his heart twist at the sound. "I've stopped listening to him lately. Stopped making choices he would make; stopped thinking of him every day," her voiced had lowered to a low whisper at the end and, as she went on, she was clearly talking to herself. "It's his life I'm living, so he should have a say, and he would never leave people like this." Then so quiet he could barely hear it. "He's a hero after all."

Thane frown, not liking how disjoined her thoughts seemed to be getting, and Shepard just turned and resumed her work, freeing one slave at a time.

Knowing that what he said was true—that letting them go would only put them at risk—but knowing Shepard was not going to change her mind (he wasn't sure how in control she really was and pushing her only seemed to make things worse), Thane pulled up his omni-tool's interface.

"You will take all day at this rate," he sighed and what was going to take her hours he did in seconds. The locks to all the cages flickered green and Shepard looked back at him and gave him a deep nod in thanks.

The slaves didn't make a move to leave their cages. Only the ones in the three large cells seemed willing to push their doors open, but they still hesitated. Finally, a human female took a few bold steps from the large cage before looking around and rushing to Shepard's side. She looked mid-teens and her arms and legs we riddled with fresh welts and old scars.

"They think it's a trick," the girl said quietly once she was near them, standing just out of their reach and rocking on her bare feet. All eyes were on them and a few of the ones from the girl's cage were visible agitated at her departure. Thane had heard one tactic the slavers like to use was group punishment to have the slaves self-regulate themselves.

"What?" Shepard asked, voice sounding firm and normal and Thane held in a sigh of relief.

"They're trained…" the girl said, glancing around nervously and twisting her fingers together, and Thane saw her right index was missing. "And this isn't the first time someone's opened the cage door for them like that."

The commander scanned the room before looking back at the jumpy girl. "And you trust me?" she questioned firmly, but with noticeable care in her voice.

The girl swallowed nervously. "You're Commander Shepard, right?" she asked with hope clinging to her form. "He called you Shepard and your armor with the stripe… are you?"

Shepard started to reach up to unlatch her helm, but paused when the girl flinched back at the raise of her arm. With her helm off the girl's shoulder eased and a good deal of the slave relaxed as well.

"I saw you on the news all the time two years ago," the girl said with her face flushing red and emotion bubbling up from her relief at seeing one of humanities greatest heroes. "They said you died and stuff." The girl gave a choked laugh. "Guessin' they were wrong."

"Siha," Thane said. "Your helmet."

Shepard tore her eyes away from the girl, who was now looking up hopefully at the commander, and looked back at Thane. She nodded and moved to put it back on but the girl shook her head.

"The air's clean down here. They want us alive, after all," the teen said a bit bitterly and they both froze and looked at the girl.

"Alive?" Shepard asked slowly.

"Yeah," the girl shifted nervously at their stare. "The spores will kill you in a few days if you inhale too much…" she trailed off and looked down. "Me and my sis got out once. They couldn't find us so they just started burnin' the grass. I guess burnin' it makes it like an OD and we were trippin' in hours. She died in a day… and they happened to find me before I did."

"Did you inhale it?" a new slave, an older man with a haggard face and skinny, scarred limbs, asked Shepard as he approached. "Don't have much time if you did."

"Explain," Thane ordered, worry making him cross.

The man seemed unaffected by his tone and nodded. "It's the grass. From what I heard this planet was just a giant dust ball 'till the slavers came. It grows all year long and releases the toxin in its spores. Burning it releases a large enough dose to kill us from overexposure."

"What exactly does it do?"

"It fucks with your head," the teen said with anger. "Makes you relive shit you'd rather not. Makes you see things that aren't there and act like you did then."

"How much is too much?" Shepard asked with her voice tight and even.

The male looked down. "The amount just means how long 'till it gets you. One breath may take a week. Any more than that and you have days at best."

"A cure?" Thane asked while taking a step forward, his muscles tightening with the need to act.

The teen looked away and shrugged. "They have one; they used it on me, but…"

"You don't know where it is," Shepard finished for her and the girl shook her head.

"We did not pass a med-bay nor did I see any kind of treatment room," Thane mused out loud, trying to think where they would keep it.

"It would be in the main building. This," the man said with a tight smile, "is where they keep the trouble makers."

Thane frowned and looked at the teen, knowing he needed a better idea of how long Shepard had. "What are the stages?"

The girl looked up and then back down with another shrug. "I… don't really remember that much. I remember my head hurting and seeing things, but I knew I was seeing things… at first. Then I was fine and then I… then I woke up in my cell."

Thane nodded and turned to Shepard. "If you still wish to finish this… plan of yours, we must go now."

Shepard looked at him, her brown eyes not betraying the worry she would surely be feeling, before she looked back at the girl and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. "So, sweetheart, how much of a troublemaker are you?" she said in a playful, light tone and the teen looked up; eyes flashing and shoulders evening out. "Would you like to raise some hell?"

"Yes," the girl said eagerly and Thane could tell the girl was itching for an encounter with the slavers where she was not the victim for once.

Shepard squeezed her shoulder and looked around. "Anyone else?"

Slowly, one by one, the humans left their cages and gathered around them just as a siren blared through the room. They jumped, but held their heads high as they looked expectantly at the commander.

Shepard gave a wide smile to the group. "So, how many of you can shoot a gun?"


	4. Conflict Theory

**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Bioware.

**Beta Reader:** NothingSoSpecial

**Story Requested By:** NothingSoSpecial

* * *

Chapter Four

Conflict Theory

Commander Shepard was pretty sure they were screwed.

Not because of the level of both mental and physical deterioration on the captive's part. Nor from their combat inexperience or even potentially being outnumbered once the alarm spread to any other slaver compounds.

No, it was because of _her_.

It was getting worse.

Somehow she could _feel_ them, the hallucinations, pushing at the edge of her mind, trying to get in. A living, breathing entity trying to overwhelm her. Struggling to pull her under and drown her with its relentlessness force. Sometimes she could hear the ocean crying out from the confines of a seashell, see the sandy beaches just skirting the edge of her view, feel the sun burning her bare shoulders and the annoying grind of sand in places she never knew existed. And sometimes… sometimes Thane _wasn't Thane_.

Shepard knew she had to act fast if she was going to save, not only the humans here, but her team. Her symptoms weren't progressing the same way as the young girl described and Shepard had a feeling she knew why.

She was part machine now and, most likely, part of her brain had a mechanical element to it; something that was allowing her to stay in control of her mind when she should have fallen into delusions at this point. Even that, though, wasn't enough to completely stop it, just prolong it. Yet, for how long, was anyone's guess.

There was always the possibility that she had already succumbed to the delusions and all this was a fevered dream, but that was too morbid a thought to entertain at the moment.

So, as it stood, fevered dream or not, _screwed_ or not, Shepard didn't give her troubles a second thought. She had a mission to finish and now people to save. Honestly, once she really thought about it, it was just another typical day in her life. No reason to panic, just another normal day in her far from normal life.

"Siha," Thane called as he approached her side. "Everything is in place and ready when you are."

Shepard nodded at her drell friend and noticed the teenage girl from earlier was shadowing him as he moved. For a moment, Shepard entertained the idea of asking the girl for her name, but decided against it. She would ask later.

The commander scanned the holding area before turning towards a waiting forklift, then she turned back and pulled her helmet from her hip. There was no need for her to wear the blasted thing inside the complex, so slipped it on the girl's head.

"Slaver's like headshots," she warned the girl, one of the dozen prisoners who not only knew how to shoot, but well enough to hold her own. Of course, civilians in a firefight never ended well no matter how many trips to the range—or whatever else civilians did to convince themselves they knew how to use a gun—they did. That knowledge didn't come until you used it for its proper function; killing something dead set, and _very_ damn capable, of killing you.

As a soldier, she found that was a lesson she hoped to keep as many people as possible from experiencing.

The girl nodded in understanding as her hands tighten around a dead slaver's stolen pistol, the clip full.

Again, she was tempted to ask the girl's name, but she would ask later.

Yes, she would ask later.

* * *

A typical day in the great Commander Shepard's life normally involved shooting. Lots and lots of shooting. A plot twist or two, jumping a couple sharks, a perfectly placed deus ex machina, ending with her riding off into the sun. Or suns, depending on what system the planet was in.

So far she'd had the plot twist (well… as much as the Illusive Man screwing her over _could _be at this point), and she was pretty sure she could see a few curved grey fins swimming in the distance, but she was not sure if she was nearing the climatic end or just another twist.

Shepard knew better than to expect her plans not to go pear shaped (she could name the ones that did, but she would save time naming the ones that _didn't_). Knew better than to get attached to anyone outside her crew—outside of her protection—and knew never to second guess herself, because doubt created hesitation, and that second of hesitation was all your enemy needed to end you.

There was no room for hesitation.

No room for doubt.

"Let's do this."

Only action.

* * *

As easy as it was for Thane to block and reroute the camera feed in the base, it was just as easy for him disable all access to it but theirs. Since there was no longer a need for secrecy, Thane didn't hold back when he entered the slaver's computer network, setting off string after string of alarms as he hacked and took control of their system. In a span of minutes, the assassin had effectively locked out all external signals and reopened a channel to Garrus' comm using the slaver's landline.

"Garrus," Shepard called, not pausing to wait for a response and doing her best to ignore the burst of warm relief that flooded her chest at being able to talk to him again. Things just weren't _right_ if she wasn't hearing his sarcastic comments in the background during a mission. "Thane's sending you the current access code for the compound's system. I need you to place a higher encryption to keep the slavers out, lock the compound down tight, and send us the schematics to the base. Be prepared for incoming hostiles."

As effective as Thane was with electronics, she knew Garrus could get the job done a lot faster and she needed Thane to be prepared for the coming fight they were about to be engaged in.

"Well, hello to you too," Garrus bit out dryly and Shepard tried not to smile as she adjusted the driver's seat of the forklift.

"_Hello_," she drawled with mock annoyance. "Now do I need to say _please_ and _thank-you_ as well?" Even as she asked, Thane was giving her a nod in conformation showing Garrus was now working on the system.

Garrus snorted. "You with good manners is like a vorcha... with good manners." She could hear the slight click of his glove talons on the rover's interface and the occasional beep of his omni-tool in the background as he talked.

This time she did smile as she said, "That is probably the most insulting thing you have ever said to me."

"Really?" he said with a hint of genuine surprise. "Worse than 'how you dance is the equivalent of how a vorcha thinks'?"

Shepard paused as she gripped the wheel, sparing a quick glance at Thane, who was crammed in next to her. "But they don't think."

"_Exactly_."

"Ass," she said as she laughed, feeling more at ease than before. It was hard to focus on how dire a situation was with Garrus around and, she had to admit, that was one of the reasons she liked having him by her side; he could make her smile no matter what. "And why all the vorcha hate?" she inquired as she waited for Garrus to finish his task.

"Spend two years on Omega with them milling around and you'll understand." Then he suddenly turned serious. "All external doors are locked down. They would need Tali to hack them. I'm sending the base's floor plan to you now." Her tool pinged and so did Thane's. "I'm counting thirty-one live hostiles currently in the base. Seeing how they are all now converging on the only blind spot in the camera network, I'm guessing that's where you're at. Care to tell me what happen to all that _sneaking_ you were supposed to be doing?" he ended with a light, annoyed growl vibrating through the comm channel.

Thane answered, with brutal honesty, before she could think of an explanation that wouldn't worry Garrus _too_ much, "We are currently leading a slave revolt with only a dozen armed, malnourished humans as back up. Also, the commander's headaches have returned."

Shepard flinched on the inside at Thane's tone but held his gaze as his eyes locked with hers. A part of her knew this wasn't the way to go about saving these people, but it was too late now, and turning tail to save their own skin was never an option in her book.

Shepard held the drell's gaze as she started the forklift, almost defiantly, and the console in front of her lite up in response. The machine gave only the slightest of rumbles underneath her and behind her she could hear the slight purr of the others turning on.

Garrus was quiet on his end, long enough that she knew he wasn't happy with what he heard, and was left starting into Thane's eyes.

He was angry, he made that clear, but mostly the older man was worried, and she couldn't fault him for that. Because, at that very moment, his disapproving scowl was twisting up into a lopsided smile, and his endlessly dark eyes were suddenly specked with bits of sky and twilight.

"_We're the good guys now,"_ a voice said in disbelief in her ear as she felt pressure at her waist, like she was being squeezed. _"Can you believe that?"_

No, she couldn't, not after everything they did back home just to survive. It seemed almost laughable that the same thing she had done all her life, and was looked down on for, was the same thing she was praised for in the navy; she was always a damn fine shot with a gun and never missed her target.

The Red Jackets were her idea.

The Alliance was his.

He was always trying to help, to do good where ever he went, while she was always just trying to live to see another day.

"_Shepard_," a voice hissed low and hard.

Suddenly, Thane was there again, staring at her with a look she had never seen on his face before; panic.

"Shepard," he repeated as he watched her, hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Garrus asked, smooth voice rumbling in her ear and grounding her senses.

"Nothing," Shepard answered before Thane could say anything.

"You have less than a minute," Garrus warned, his voice tighter than before. "I have enemy vehicles inbound to my position. They'll be here in two."

Both Thane and Shepard visibly tensed at that news and they both let her slip go as they addressed the new problem.

"How many?" Thane asked as he looked away from Shepard.

"Can't tell, but comm chatter indicates at least seven vehicles responding to the compound's alarms."

"Get out of there, now," Shepard ordered as a different kind of worry than before roared quickly through her veins. The idea of him fighting anybody in his condition was absurd, and the thought of her not being by his side during it was… _madding_. Was that how Garrus felt when they entered the compound without him? "There's no way you can handle an encounter that size."

Garrus was quiet for a second too long before he gave a dark chuckle and Shepard felt her heart drop; she was talking to Archangel now.

"That's half the fun," he said with unnerving calm. "Plus, I can't let them just blow the door open after all that hard work I just put in."

"Get out of there, Garrus!" she snapped, and then added with all the authority she could muster, "That's an _order_. We'll rendezvous on foot later." Thane and she had a better chance of taking out the slavers, once they disembarked their rovers and entered the complex, than Garrus did taking them on directly.

"I would say I agree with the Commander, but I feel my opinion matters very little at the moment," Thane said just as he grabbed the wheel and pressed his foot on top on hers, causing the forklift to jerk forward with surprising speed.

Before Shepard could complain, they smashed into the doubled metal doors, like planned, and rammed through it. Shepard was a little angry for letting herself become distracted, but seeing how she was now engaged with the enemy, she let it go.

With a sickening tear of metal and flesh, the forklift succeeded in impaling three slavers, and proceeded to run over one more with a wicked crunch of a skull. One of the ones impaled didn't immediately die and Shepard spared a quick shot to the head to finish him off as he raised his gun at her. Thane let go of the wheel and left the driving to her, as they both agreed her reckless driving would benefit at the moment.

Thane pulled his assault rifle out and spayed into the group of surprised batarians as Shepard drove towards the opening to the tunnel. Bullets ricocheted both off of the metal hull of the lift and their shields as they neared the opening. From behind them, Shepard could hear covering fire from the captives and she was pleased to see the slavers in the main room were dropping like flies.

From what Shepard could tell, only around ten slavers had made it into the inner part of the room and the tunnel itself was where the majority of them still were. At their entrance, many of them had backed up for safety into the tunnel to escape their rampage, but she had planned for that, and had removed the few crates near the opening they could use as covering and placed them near the door for the captives to use instead, making the tunnel a kill zone.

Seeing that the element of surprise had worn off, and the slavers were shooting now with both accuracy and consistency, Shepard knew it was time to change tactics.

"Hold on," she warned Thane and the drell gripped on to the side of the lift with one hand as he continued to fire with the other.

Shepard did a quick left turn and the lift was thrown off balance. Shepard and Thane quickly rolled free from it as it landed hard on its side. She could hear as the slavers focused on the undercarriage of the vehicle and she had to roll her eyes. This wasn't a _movie_ and the lift wasn't about to _explode_. Hell, the battery was nestled in the rear of forklift anyway. They clearly had too much free time and watched too many movies.

Shepard used the moment of stupidity to check the status of the captives. So far, they had done as planned and moved three forklifts to block the entrance of the holding area. They were now using the upright lifts as cover and were doing an adequate job of providing cover fire. Shepard knew it probably wasn't possible, but she planned on making sure not one man or woman lost their life today.

Thane popped in a new clip and nodded at Shepard before she pulled out her assault and nodded in return. They both jumped and began shooting just as an explosion rocked the complex and echoed through the comm.

Shit, Garrus.

"Garrus!" Shepard yelled, louder than she needed to. "Status! What's going on up there?"

"You felt that, huh?" he said, still oddly calm.

Shepard gritted her teeth as a bullet penetrated her shield and hit her left arm. "Hell yeah we felt that! What are you doing? What the hell does 'get the hell out of there' mean to you?"

"The same thing 'stealth' means to you."

Thane cut in. "Be as reckless as possible?"

"Hey, I've been on my best behavior here!" she defended as she dropped down to let her shields recharge. She glanced at her arm and saw the bullet had only dented the patch of blue armor where it had collided. There was another explosion and this time bits of rocks were dislodged from the ceiling. "And seriously, what is happening up there?"

The slavers were on their comms, asking the same thing, and Shepard couldn't make out much of what they were saying other than their incoming backup was having some… _difficulties_.

"I have things under control, just stay focused, Shepard," Garrus answered, a bit gently. Seeing how Garrus seemed to be handing thing on his end, she dropped her question and trusted him to stay alive.

She checked the status of the captives before peaking around the side of the overturned lift. She took a quick body count and was surprised to see around twenty dead. She had to credit that to the same lack of readiness that had allowed them easy access to the compound in the first place. The remaining ones were now moving farther into the tunnel, staying close to the walls, and Shepard frowned when she saw one reach to his side in a familiar gesture.

"Thane—"

"I see," he replied as he switched to his sniper and Shepard provided cover as he lined up his shot. As most were out of range, clearly hoping she would give up her advantage and pursue them into the tunnel, her shots were meant merely to keep them from regaining any ground.

In a flash, the tunnel ignited in a burst of light as Thane shot the grenade in the slaver's hand. She was startled to see it was a flash-bomb, and she was reminded they wanted her alive, even after all this. The light blinded them and forced them both to hunker back down. From the shocked cry behind her, she could tell the flash caught everyone by surprise.

Unfortunately, the position of the bomb meant that not every slaver was blinded.

"Take them out, now!" a voice bellowed from the tunnel.

"Get down," the commander yelled, hopefully in the right direction as she reached out to make sure Thane was still next to her. Her fingers slipped as she gripped his arm, sticky warm blood coating them, but she didn't have time to wonder when did he get hit as she heard a high pitched human scream echo around the room.

"_What was that?"_ Thane asked and Shepard was slightly confused by the question.

Yet, she wasn't too sure herself and squinted in the direction of the sound. For some reason she couldn't see very well. She was sure it was from the approaching night, but she remembered seeing a flash of light only moments before.

"I'm not sure," she answered, her head swimming in confusion as she tried to figure out where the sound had come from. It sounded like someone was hurt.

"Shepard?"

"_Shep_?"

What? Why did Thane…

Thane?

"Shepard, please look at me," a voice urged. "Focus! Now is not a good time to do this."

She wanted to answer him, but she couldn't think of something to say other than 'Thane' and she wasn't even sure what a '_Thane'_ was.

"_Shepard_."

"Shep, look," he called and this time she did. She followed his arm as he pointed to the sky and, streaking through the darkening blue sky, were shuttles, more than were authorized to ever fly over a civilian residence at once.

"Shit, I think we need to call this in," he said and Shepard turned to look at him.

Blond hair, tan skin, and deep blue eyes.

Ranger.

Private First Class Scott Ranger of the Alliance Navy.

She looked back over towards the boardwalk, to the main road that led to the heart of Elysium, to where the shuttles were landing, and she nodded.

* * *

"Are you kidding me?" Shep cried as her omni-tool refused to connect to any of the frequencies she tried. "Something's jamming the comms!" she yelled as she dropped to her knees and rummaged through her beach bag. Just from her normal paranoia, she had packed a small pistol and switchblade, and she pulled both out as she scanned the unnervingly empty beach. She tossed the pistol to Ranger and he did a quick weapons check before tucking it into the band of his swim trunks. She tossed him a shirt, which he pulled on without objection, and his dog tags.

"Stay here," he said. "I'm going to see if anyone in that restaurant knows what's going on." He gestured towards the closest building to them.

"I'll stay look out," she agreed as she pulled out her shorts and pulled them on over her bikini bottom. "You have five minutes," she warned. Any longer than that and she was coming in after him. Ranger gave her a quick kiss before jogging off.

Shep tucked her knife in her short's pocket as she looked for anything else useful in her bag. She wasn't sure why she was feeling so jumpy, those shuttles could just be a supply drop after all, but… something just didn't _feel_ right.

Her N instructors were always telling her follow her gut feelings, and right now they told her to be ready for _anything_.

Shep paced the beach for the first minute as she counted the time in her head, trying her best not to count faster, just so she could go check on Ranger sooner. He had the gun after all, he would be fine.

As the second minute passed, she was surprised to hear the crunch of sand from farther down the beach. The sun was almost completely set and she had to narrow her eyes to make out the shapes as they moved closer to her. They looked human and, from their footfalls, they sounded almost military in nature. Their steps also hit the ground with more force than a normal beach clad human would, and the dying light of the sun caught on a bit of metal in the one their hands.

She felt her shoulders ease as they approached, only to curse when she saw the unnatural shape of their heads. She didn't pull her knife, as they weren't close enough to charge yet, and she didn't want to provoke them without finding out if they were friendly or not.

"Found another one!" one of them yelled as the group of three moved quickly to her position.

"Another female," the one in the middle announced as the two flanking him raised their guns at her. "Good. Females always fetch a better price."

Her breath caught in her throat as she could finally see their faces. Batarians. And, from their conversation, they were _slavers_.

Shep angled her body to keep the budge in her shorts from view and tried to think of a way not to let this… get out of hand until Ranger showed up. She couldn't see anyone else behind the three and they were each armed.

The middle one reached into a pouch on his hip and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"Now just come along without a fight, you little pyjak, and nobody gets hurt," the slaver said as a bit of weak sunlight caught in his four eyes, and Shep knew the look that gleamed in their depths.

She couldn't help it, she snorted. "Oh, please," she laughed, placing a hand on her hip and rolling her eyes. "Those guns _really_ make me believe _that_."

One of the ones pointing a gun made an irritated noise as he grumbled out, "Damn, I hate the chatty ones. Just knock it out so we can move on."

The middle one moved closer and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her to him as he twisted her arm around to cuff her.

Pure fury coursed through her at the nerve he had to touch her like that. No one laid a freaking _finger_ on her without her permission.

In a flash she pulled the blade, popped it open, and twisted around, stabbing him with it. He screamed in both pain and shock as, in her haste, she missed her mark and hit his lower left eye. He didn't fall down dead, like he should have based on if he was human, and only dropped the cuffs to pull at the knife in his eye socket. The two behind him both opened fire, grazing their comrade's shields, and she rolled to the side, grabbing the cuffs on the ground as she went.

Their shots impacted on the sand as she ran, lighting up the beach in flashes of fire, and she lunged at the closes one. Grabbing his rifle with one hand, she pushed it up into the air while cuffing him, and then quickly kicked the back of his knee out. She forced him to the ground and twisted his cuffed hand behind his back, making him drop his gun as she heard the snap of his wrist. She grabbed it and faced the third, _very_ stunned, slaver and unloaded into him.

The gun quickly over-heated and gave shrill warning beeps as the one on the ground leaped up and charged her with a small pistol drawn in his good hand. She was close enough that she was able to smash the butt of the gun into his face with enough force that he hit the ground and didn't move again.

Then she was being tackled to the sand and the air was knocked from her lungs. The gun was yanked from her grip and the knife that was once lodge in the first slaver's skull was pressed against her neck. Green blood was pouring out of his eye and she cringed as it dripped onto her face.

"Fucking human," he growled, voice echoing alongside the crash of waves. "You think one little pyjak can stop us?"

Stop them? Hell. She was just interested in not being turned into some sex slave in the corner of the Traverse.

From behind him came a light, amused laugh and Shep knew she was never going to hear the end of being caught pinned down. Not after she bragged for two weeks for getting top marks in hand-to-hand combat.

"Good thing she's not alone then," Ranger stated, voice edged with steel and, before the slaver could turn, Ranger shot him in the back of the head.

"Ew," Shep cringed again as blood and brain matter coated her. "Damn it Ranger!"

"I believe you mean 'thank-you for saving my sorry, if not perky, ass, Ranger'," he said as he rolled his eyes and offered her a hand.

She grumbled a few choice curse words under her breath as she took his hand. "You should have just disarmed him! Now we can't question him and find out why _slavers_ are on _Elysium_."

"Whoa, slavers?" His jaw dropped. "_Here_? Shit, that's bold even for them."

Shep spit as she tasted a funny copper taste in her mouth and tried not to gag. She was never too squeamish, but she'd never been coated in another living beings still warm blood before either. Seeing her distress, Ranger pulled off his shirt and wiped her face. "Go clean up while I see if they have a working radio," he said as he kicked at one of the bodies. "The ones in the restaurant were jammed as well."

She nodded and took his shirt as she ran toward the water, wondering how they were going to contact the Alliance, and she stumbled, a strange pressure on the nap of her neck making her feel incredibly weak.

Then everything went black before she hit the still warm sand of the beach.


End file.
